Coconut Cashew Sheera – A Quick Indian Dessert

Oh how I wish I had created this recipe when I was still on the SCD diet! Yes – not only is this recipe gluten free and sugar free but it is indeed SCD compliant!

Sheera is an easy indian dish that I like to call dessert but to many it’s breakfast. Sheera can be made with a variety of ingredients. The most common sheera that I know of is made with Semolina which is a very gritty flour, usually made from wheat. This is one of the Indian dishes I hold closest to my heart. In fact when I was a little kid I would pester my mom to make the wheat version of sheera for my birthday instead of cake. She would mould it into a nice round shape and stick a massive candle on it. Oh.. I even remember one time she shaped it into a heart. What amazing memories. So it’s been quite a sad sacrifice for me to forgo sheera since I’ve become gluten free.

Recently my mom gifted me a Tarla Dalal cookbook that focuses on Indian sweets. I’m a big fan of Tarla Dalal. Her books are one of the few that I like to thumb through just because I’m bored. She always has really interesting takes on the Indian cuisine or applying Indian flavors to dishes around the world. When I saw her sheera recipe that used grated coconut and cashew instead of wheat I was so excited to try it out! Since sheera is such a simple recipe, my recipe is very much like hers except I decided to use coconut flour instead of grated coconut to get a more creamy texture. Also I used honey instead of sugar because, well, sugar is just a big no-no.

Note: I developed this recipe for Bob’s Red Mill. They have provided me with samples of the coconut flour. All opinions expressed here are mine. I have not been compensated for this recipe or post. The only reason I decided to develop this recipe for them is because I love the gluten free products created by Bob’s Red Mill! I really do!

4. In a small bowl mix the saffron with a tablespoon of water so that the color and fragrance starts releasing.

5. Lower the heat. Mix the honey into the flour mixture. Add water slowly (about 1/2 cup at a time). You may need more than 2 cups depending on how much of the water is absorbed by the flour. Basically you want the mixture to look like a smooth thick paste / dough and not crumbly. Add the saffron and cardamom. Cook for another 5 minutes.

6. Dry roast a few whole cashews in a small non stick pan till they start browning. Serve the sheera pipping hot garnished with these cashews!

One thing you should remember about indian desserts — typically they’re normally eaten along with the meal as opposed to a course afterwards. So most people just eat it along with whatever they’ve made for the meals. A “little sweet bite makes the medicine goes down” philosophy perhaps? 😀

Thanks a lot for the info – I didn’t know at all that Indian sweets are usually eaten with the meal, how interesting! I also meant to mention that my one year old loves this I found your site while I was searching for wheat-free and dairy-free breakfast/snack ideas for him. Thanks again!

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We're Raj and Sonia - two friends passionate about healthy cooking. We focus on gluten-free, refined sugar-free and vegetarian recipes. Being engineers - we've broken down the recipes into simple steps EACH with a picture - this way you can easily recreate the recipe in your kitchen (or tell us how to do things better). Read more about us and the path that got us here...